Summer finally decided to unleash its glorious but scorching self upon us on Christmas Day, and in full force! Christmas for me is a typically relaxed day spent with all the gorgeous people I love. The morning began with our annual ritual of present opening with my immediate family, and I have to say I scored…big time. Jinn was given the task of buying my present on behalf of the entire family and the poor thing was racking his brains so hard – I wasn’t exactly lacking in anything since only recently coming back from that very fruitful holiday in New York I keep mentioning! He’s also very bad at keeping secrets. So I thought I had it all figured out when I saw a shopping bag from one of my favourite stores (Atlas Divine in Leederville!) peeking out from under a chair when I got home one day. But honestly, nothing prepared me for the boom-bap-pow of those shiny gold Super Duper Strength sunglasses from Karen Walker’s latest Fantastique eyewear range that popped out from that unassuming little package with my name on it. All I can say is – Thank. you. I. Love. Them. And. I. LOVE. YOU. ALL. !.

What followed was a food dream filled with beautiful dishes definitely befitting the occasion (Jason served up five meats at his “little” Christmas barbecue, I certainly got my protein load for the next month or so). Thankfully there was time for a quick dip before Jason’s dinner to help get the digestive system going and burn off a few calories, and of course play with my cousin’s underwater camera! She usually uses it to photograph fish/turtles/rays/sharks when she goes scuba diving but we were more than happy to be the wildlife on this occasion. 🙂

There’s nothing quite like days like these that bring everyone together for the sole purpose of enjoying each other’s company and for sharing gifts, stories, hugs and laughs. I cherish every single moment and find that as I get older (wow, I’m not that geriatric!) they mean more and more to me.